


Fool's Gold

by swanthatcan



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Dark Academia, Friends to Lovers, M/M, heavily inspired by dead poets society
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:46:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28785159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanthatcan/pseuds/swanthatcan
Summary: In the Fall of 1986, a group of friends at a private academy for boys start to find themselves and the things they love, despite the world hanging over their shoulders.Clay finds himself stepping into a new world of his own when his new roommate, George, builds more walls than he can tear down. Nick begins to wonder if the path he is on in life is right as he gets closer with the president of the class, Karl.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Fool's Gold

The twisted stone stairwell before him continued to creep up, higher and higher as his legs grew tired of the steps. Had this not been a tradition, he would have given up on it maybe fifty stairs back; but the excited voices of his friends pushed him onwards, and he continued after them, one hand brushing against the cool stone wall. 

“Clay, can you pick up the pace just a little bit?” Alex called down to him, leaning over the railing. Two other heads at various degrees above him followed, all three of them grinning down at him. Karl was almost too excited; this of course was his first time joining them to the clock tower, seeing as he’d only come to the school the year prior. He had a grin stretching halfway across his face and he kept glancing between Alex and Nick excitedly. 

“Listen, you know this is my least favorite part. It’s not like we have to rush.” Clay replied, stopping to stare up at them for a second before scoffing and slightly picking up his pace to at least catch up to them. 

“We’re almost there.” Nick said, slapping Clay on the back when he finally reached him. Nick had been Clay’s first friend at the school when they arrived as freshmen three years prior; and they’d been together ever since. Their first day together they broke every school rule at Silver Run Academy, climbing the stairs of the clocktower that domed over the school and spending the night there. Every year since then they’d done the same; and every year they’d gained someone new to join them. 

Alex had been a freshman their sophomore year, and he’d sort of just attached himself to Nick like a leech that they couldn’t get off his first day on campus. Although he was younger than them and, undeniably on a whole different level of hyperactive, they’d grown towards him pretty quickly, and he was allowed to join them to the clock tower his first day at the school. 

Karl was their most recent addition; and to Clay’s dismay, he’d stolen Nick as his roommate for the new year. Karl was their class president; his charm and his bright personality had led the new student to their school directly into a position of such valor, and Nick had run for Vice President alongside him. When they won, they decided the next year they’d room together, and their friendship only exploded from there on. Nick had decided that Karl would join them to the clock tower, and Alex had happily agreed. Clay agreed. 

“Feels much more crowded.” Clay muttered under his breath as they continued up the stairs, and Nick gave him a bit of a look. Nick was aware of the slight bitter feelings Clay had towards losing his roommate, and although they’d talked it out plenty over the summer, Clay still had to put jabs in here and there at his best friend. 

They finally reached the top of the clock tower, and Clay flopped down alongside the wooden beams that separated the large bell from the rest of the mechanics in the tower. Karl and Alex happily glanced out the large, stained glass windows that looked down and over their school. Nick stood back by Clay, smiling as the two newest members of their friend group took in the sights they had come to love on their first day at Silver Run. Clay couldn’t help but let a small smile break when Alex cracked a joke about seeing the mass of a teacher none of them really liked ‘even from all the way up here!’

“Are you excited for your new roommate?” Nick asked Clay, glancing down at his friend. Clay gave a shrug in response, picking at his nails instead of bothering with a real answer. He honestly didn’t know what he felt. All he could hope was for a roommate that was as exciting to know as Nick. 

“Could be a new friend!” Karl added on, turning back to the two of them with a smile.

“Or he could be a total chode.” Alex added, and even though he was right, they all gave him a look, to which he continued, “I’m just saying, he could be a carbon copy of Wilbur.” 

“Oh, don’t put that in my head.” Clay nearly gagged at the idea. Wilbur was their senior and one of the most prickling thorns in their sides. Despite his own lack of respect for authority, he took every chance he could to throw the four of them under the bus. Nick speculated that it was to gain points with the headmaster, who also just happened to be Wilbur’s father, but Clay knew deep down it was just for the power trip of it all. 

Plenty of people at their school wanted power over everything else. Being at an all boys school for the ‘highly skilled and brilliantly minded’ often leads to that. Each of them had their own vice holding them accountable to that name. 

Clay was smart; so smart that, despite having no family to buy him in, he was gifted a scholarship. Nick was bound to the corporate ladder his family had climbed for centuries before him, expected to follow in the shoes of his mother and continue the family business. Karl was from a socialite family with plenty of money, on the track to be a doctor, as expected of his parents. Alex was a bit more of a mystery to them; he didn’t often talk about what life back home expected of him, but the way he held himself matched their own. The way expectation rests on the shoulder of an adolescent in a world already so stacked against them. 

Wilbur was all but the same as them. That, however, didn’t mean they had to like him. It only meant they could understand why he did the things he did. 

“Sun is setting.” Nick said, pulling Clay away from his thoughts. Clay pulled himself up and stood with his friends at the window, watching the sun dip down over the vast ocean that sat on the side of Silver Run. As it disappeared, they knew that the new school year was officially going to start. 

“Oh, shit, wait.” Clay spun around and grabbed the bag he’d carried with him, flipping open the satchel and pulling out a bottle, “Gentlemen, now you know why it took me so long to get my ass up the stairs, and I think you’ll appreciate it.” He spun the bottle to face them, wiggling his eyebrows as he presented the bottle of champagne to his friends. 

“What!” Nick said, his eyes widening and a huge grin splitting across his face. He took the bottle from Clay to inspect it as Alex threw his hands up with an excited ‘whoo!’

“How did you get that?” Karl asked with a bit of a laugh, looking more shocked than anything. 

“I have a friend in town. I asked him for a favor, and now I owe him one, but, I think it’s worth it, don’t you?” Clay pulled out a pack of plastic cups then and quickly yanked it open with his teeth. Alex and Nick went about opening the bottle, all four of them yelling when the cork shot off and nearly hit into the bell beside them. It hadn’t worked properly in years, but if it was suddenly hit by a cork, they’d be screwed. After the shock and fear ran down from that, they poured themself out each a glass. 

“To the class of ‘88,” Clay said as he put his glass up in the air, before glancing at Alex and adding, “And to the class of ‘89.” 

“May we get as much pussy this year as the last!” Alex added in, raising his glass up to meet Clay’s. 

“Here is to friendship.” Karl said, a small smile as he raised his up. 

“Here is to us.” Nick finished, pressing his glass up finally. In a very fleeting moment, Clay noticed how his eyes seemed to be locked only on Karl. He didn’t let it linger in his mind though, and he brought the cup back to his lips and quickly downed it. 

Tomorrow was a new day. 

\-- 

When morning arrived, the four of them quietly made their way back down the stairs of the tower. It was barely sunrise, and nobody was awake yet. They said their quick goodbyes before putting the lock they’d learned the code to back onto the gate of the clock tower and splitting off to go to their own rooms. 

Clay took the back entrance in, one he knew by heart. The stairs didn’t creak here like they did in some other parts of the school, so sneaking through was as easy as it could be. He held his bag close and pulled the key to his room out of his pocket as he approached it, glancing up at the number with a small hum. 42. He’d always had 42, and when Nick abandoned him for Karl, he insisted he keep it. 

Before their excursion to the tower, he’d dropped off his things. His brain didn’t actually think about the new roommate he’d be gaining though, and as he opened the door up, he was almost shocked to see someone sitting on one of the two beds in the small room. A well kept head of black hair, a slim and short frame, pale skin- his new roommate was certainly different from the rest of his friend group. 

“Oh, nice for you to show up.” The other boy said, his accent slapping Clay in the face. Clay regained his composure and quickly shut the door behind him.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that. I had left something at the train station and- I just ended up hanging with a friend last evening. I uh, I’m-”

“Clay. I know. I asked the hallmaster if I had a roommate, since you never decided to introduce yourself,” the other boy cut him off without even blinking, “I’m George.” 

The overall hostility of his new roommate didn’t settle so well with Clay, but he tried to let it slide, knowing in the long run, he was the jerk here. He could have at least said hello to George before taking off. He tossed his bag onto his bed and held out his hand then. 

“Well, George, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you got here. Let- let’s not start off on the wrong foot, okay? It won’t happen again. Promise.” He said, and George made a bit of a face before it broke into a bit of a smile and he extended his hand out to shake Clay’s. 

“I’ll hold you to that, then. Nice to meet you,” George said as they shook hands, eventually standing up and starting to make his bed, “I was worried I’d have to actually go about my first day alone. I’d assumed this whole plane ride here I’d have my roommate, and then you weren’t here, and I guess I got a bit angry. It was the nerves.” 

“Where are you from?” Clay asked as he sat back on his bed, happy to feel the soft of the mattress after his night in the clock tower. He was exhausted, but he knew he could get through the day on coffee and sugar. The bag of candy he’d snuck in was calling for him, but he wasn’t so sure if he could trust George just yet. 

“England; I’m sure even if I told you the name of my city, you wouldn’t know it.” George replied, fluffing up his pillow. 

“You wouldn’t know the name of my town either. I’m from Micanopy, Florida.” Clay replied, leaning on his hand and watching George, who sort of laughed at the name of the town. Clay smiled back at him, happy to be actually making acquaintance with George. 

“Well, then - I’m from Dungeness, Kent.” George said after a moment, glancing back to look at Clay, “What- what is that look on your face for!” 

“There is no way the place you’re from is called  _ Dungeness,”  _ Clay said, his face absolutely smothered with disbelief, “That sounds like it’s out of some fantasy novel, or something you absolutely made up to make fun of the fact I’m American.” 

“Why in the world would I do that?” George laughed, before going to the trunk that sat at the edge of his bed and grabbing his wallet- he pulled out his ID and flung it at Clay, who caught it and read the exact place George had told him. 

“Alright. You’ve proved me wrong. Still feels very fake. Oh, you know what we should do? My friends will probably have a million questions for you. We’ve got to make them believe you’re like a Prince or something.” Clay hummed, tapping the ID against his face as he came up with the plan. George watched him with a small smile on his face, nodding his head a bit. 

As they discussed the idea and a few other things, Clay found that George was hard to read. He didn’t put his emotions out on the floor like most of the other people Clay knew did, he always seemed reserved, a second back in the conversation, so that he could properly process what he needed to say before he actually said it. He didn’t let anything slip. Clay wanted to find out more about him; it was just right there out of reach. Most people opened up to him with ease, but George was different. 

He liked it. 

“Let’s GO!” Nick’s voice cut through their conversation as he pounded on the door outside. Clay glanced at the door with a sigh before nodding at George to follow after him.

“That’ll be my friends. They’re a bit much; but I’ll calm them down.” Clay assured George as he opened the door and greeted the group that waited for them outside. The halls were full now, boys moving back and forth to their dorms, to breakfast, to class. The hussle felt so natural to them that they didn’t even blink as they were bumped into for standing still in the hall. 

“George, these are my friends. The one with the red tie he absolutely is not allowed to wear is Nick, my previous roommate. Shorty is Alex, but he’s a sophomore, so you don’t have to worry about him that much,” he ignored the angry ‘hey!’ that came from Alex and continued, “And last but not least is Karl; our class president.” He let the three of them give their own hellos, before he held back a smirk and said, 

“And this is George. He’s a Prince from England.” 

“Bull shit.” Nick said right away, and Karl and Alex both let out a scoff. Clay forced a look on his face to try and convince them, but it was George who spoke next. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he tweaked his voice to somehow sound even more British, and he gave a small, curt bow, “I do hope you all aren’t intimidated. The crown I bear isn’t quite as heavy as the royal family, but it is a crown nonetheless.” 

Clay had to hold himself back from absolutely cracking up, his eyes watering at the effort he was putting in. It didn’t help as utter horrified shock came across the faces of his friends, who all quickly copied the bow that George had given them. It was George who then gave them away, letting out a chortled laugh that he attempted to cover when the three boys bowed to him. He and Clay both, almost immediately, broke into full laughter a second later. 

“You absolute prick. How did you get this guy on your side in what, twenty minutes?!” Nick yelled, his face red with anger and embarrassment. He rammed his fist into Clay’s shoulder, shoving him back into the door as Clay continued to cackle along with George. 

“Oh awesome, Clay now has two copies of himself.” Karl muttered, shaking his head and looking away from them, despite the small smile on his face. 

“This is bullshit. I’m going to breakfast. C’mon, Karl.” Alex scoffed, grabbing his friend and yanking him down the hall. Nick flipped off both George and Clay before trotting after them, and Clay and George calmed themselves down before heading after the group. 

“Was that too much? I didn’t think I even sold it that well…” George asked Clay, keeping close to him as they made their way towards the cafeteria. Clay shook his head, bumping his shoulder into George as they walked. 

“Fuck no, you should see the shit they pull on me. They’re just angry that this time I pulled a fast one on the three of them.” He wiggled his eyebrows at George, who smiled and gave a quick nod. They entered the cafeteria, the second George saw Nick, he gave him another bow. Clay could barely contain his laughter.

He’d absolutely hit the jackpot with this roommate. 


End file.
